Robert Palmer was born in New Buckenham, Norfolk on 22nd November 1892. His parents were Robert, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Ann Bunn from Bunwell. There were ten children in the family; Tom, Bessie Elizabeth, Mary, (Ethel) May, Sarah, Robert, Hilda, John, Elisa (Elsie) and Minnie. Robert was the only one of these children who was not born in Carleton Rode but he was baptised in the Church in 1904 when he was 12 years old.
All the children were educated at Carleton Rode School; Robert received a certificate for excellence in religious instruction. The children of the family often had bouts of illness and were absent with mumps and then scarlet fever for several weeks.
Their father, Robert senior, died in 1909, aged 48.
The family lived on King Street (top of Rode Lane) and were still there after the war.
By 1911, May was working as an egg packer and dealer. Her assistant was her brother, Robert. May married Ambrose Leverett the following year.
Robert’s older brother, Tom, had joined the regular army before the war and was serving in India; younger brother John also joined up and all three are on the village Roll of Honour board.
Robert enlisted in the 17th Middlesex Regiment, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (First Footballer’s Battalion) on the 8th March 1916. This was a regiment made up of professional sportsmen, primarily footballers, and also football fans – giving them the chance to fight alongside their heroes. Older residents of Carleton Rode remember hearing stories that Robert and his younger brother John were keen footballers – but we cannot trace a link to any professional club.
A photo of Robert in his army uniform was treasured by May and kept in the Leverett family.
The 17th Middlesex fought through the Battle of the Somme. Robert died in an attack in thick fog on Monday, 13th November 1916, just a couple of days before the end of that major battle. He is buried in Serre Road Cemetery No 2.